completed in July 1915 as Smolensk for Russian North-West SS Co Ltd and laid up. In May 1916 delivered to T. Wilson, Sons & Co Ltd, Hull and 1917 transferred to Ellermans Wilson Line Ltd, Hull. In April 1929 sold to Polsko-Brytyjskie Towarzystwo Okrêtowe SA (Polbrit), Gdynia and renamed Warszawa.

From November 1939 to June 1940, the Warszawa transported Polish soldiers and refugees from Greece and Jugoslavia to Marseilles and Syria. She was then interned by Vichy-French authorities at Beirut, but soon escaped to Haifa and was used to transport British troops to Greece, Crete and Tobruk. 

At 14.29 hours on 26 Dec, 1941, the Warszawa (Master T. Meissner), leading ship of a small convoy of three ships, was hit by one torpedo from U-559 near Mersa Matruh. Four crew members and 19 passengers were killed of the 47 crew members, five gunners and 416 passengers (military personnel) on board. The ship settled by the stern and was taken in tow by HMS Peony (K 40) after taking off all troops and a part of the crew. The U-boat sank the damaged ship by a coup de grâce at 19.30 hours. The remaining crew members were rescued by the corvette and landed at Tobruk the next day. The Polish sailors were brought back to Alexandria by the Belgian motor merchant Prince Baudouin.